Weekend Reading Doesn't Mean Weakened Reading

Today’s blog is to brain food what eggs benedict is to weekends: great-tasting, highly socializing and not good for your arteries. But hey, try these tidbits and see how they fill you up.

1. You can train to be an astronaut. You no longer need The Right Stuff to blast off and return alive. You won’t need to spend $35 million to buy your ticket, as Montrealer and Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté did in 2011. Private space travel is within reach, maybe for you, certainly for your kids and grandkids. So here’s how to get ready.

2. Clothes made out of mushrooms. The British fashion designer Stella McCartney (Sir Paul’s daughter) has launched a new line of artificial leather clothing called Mylo Unleather. It’s culled from the root system of fungi. She claims it looks and acts exactly like animal leather at a fraction of the environmental cost. And if you’re lost in the woods and ever get hungry, you can eat what you’re wearing.

 3. Will we ever have too many vaccines? It seems parts of America already do. According to the MIT Technology Review, the US is just a month away from having too many vaccines and not enough takers. I know a country that will take them!

4. How to spot a fake video. Pretty soon, we won't be able to tell a real video from a fake one. Did Justin Trudeau really say what I heard and saw him say? Maybe not. But just as we have to guard against technology’s predations by securing our data, we’re going to have to learn how to spot our own fake videos. The Washington Post offers this handy guide.

5. Rogue Males. Those iconic actors born in the 1930s are starting to die out now. Here’s BBC interviewer Francine Stock talking with Christopher Plummer, Warren Beatty, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Jack Nicholson and Peter O'Toole about how they achieved their long careers in film.

6. Brilliant Renovations. Living 24 hours in our homes for over a year has spawned the biggest renovation boom in history. Here are London’s best home renovations. As they say, don’t move; improve!

7. Can you tell the difference between a real photo and an AI photo? If you’re like most people (and I know you’re unlike most people, but nonetheless), we really can’t tell if we’re looking at someone’s real face or a face generated by Artificial Intelligence. Take the test for yourself – and see.

8. Great street music. Especially if you know the streets of Toronto, from Lily Singh and Humble the Poet.

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Sign up to hear Mark Carney and Zita Cobbspeak about Value(s) at the April 7 RamsayTalk

Sign up to hear Minouche Shafik speak about her new book, What We Owe Each Other: A New Social Contract for a Better Society with Heather Munroe-Blum, at the April 29 RamsayTalk

 Dr. David Goldbloom will join us for this free RamsayTalk on mental illness, the diseases that harm 1 in 5 Canadians - and every family - every year.